Oldest D100 RPG?

[Magpie]

I came across the upcoming SimpleQuest and the creator mentioned it was based on a D100 RPG that was 23 pages from long ago, but he never mentioned what it was called, probably for legal reasons. I would like to know the names of the old D100s that are in few pages like that and if they are still in print that I might like to buy.

[jdrakeh01]

The original Basic Roleplaying (1980, I believe) was 20 pages long. It's no longer in print, but you can occasionally find copies of it on eBay for a reasonable price. 

[Susimetsa]

Chivalry and Sorcery came out in 1977 - a year before Runequest - and it may be the first D100 system. But I seem to remember reading that the first rulebook was a bit over 100 pages.. 😕

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, Susimetsa said:

Chivalry and Sorcery came out in 1977 - a year before Runequest - and it may be the first D100 system. But I seem to remember reading that the first rulebook was a bit over 100 pages.. 😕

Bunnies and Burrows came out in 1976, using percentile dice.

[Mugen]

6 hours ago, Magpie said:

I came across the upcoming SimpleQuest and the creator mentioned it was based on a D100 RPG that was 23 pages from long ago, but he never mentioned what it was called, probably for legal reasons. I would like to know the names of the old D100s that are in few pages like that and if they are still in print that I might like to buy.

You can ask @Newt directly, but it seems obvious to me that he was referring to the Basic Roleplaying booklet from 1981.

It's a stripped-down version of the game system that was used in RuneQuest 1, which is the origin of all Chaosium d100-based gamss.

Edited February 12 by Mugen

[Atgxtg]

7 hours ago, Magpie said:

I came across the upcoming SimpleQuest and the creator mentioned it was based on a D100 RPG that was 23 pages from long ago, but he never mentioned what it was called, probably for legal reasons. I would like to know the names of the old D100s that are in few pages like that and if they are still in print that I might like to buy.

As others have mentioned, said creator was almost certainly referring to the original Basic Role Playing booklet that Chaosium released ages ago, and bundled with many of their boxed sets. It was a stripped down, streamlined version of the RuneQuest rules, and has been the basis for all the succeeding Chasoium RPGs, and several non-Chaosium RPGs.

As far as the first D100 game, that depends on just how you want to define it. As has been pointed out Bunnies & Borrows came out in 1976 and used percentile dice for skill rolls, and Chivalry & Sorcery came out in 1977 and it used percentile rolls for combat, but both were "class & level" games. Traveller might have been the first "skill based" rpg, but didn't use percentile dice. A lot of games used percentile dice in limited ways, especially for tables, once the idea of rolling two ten sided dice that way came about as it gave m ore room for different options. Traveller even invented a D66 to get the same sort of  flexibilty.

 

I believe RuneQuest was the first RPG to be skill based that used D100 for most of the game mechanics. Previous game might have had bits and pieces of what we think of as a D100 game, but RQ is probably the game that put it all together.  I also think Steve Perrin was probably the one most responsible for that, too, as earlier drafts of RQ were more like D&D., RIP Steve Perrin.

[Ravenheart87]

Empire of the Petal Throne is worth mentioning for having ability scores on a range of 1 to 100. I do not remember if it had ability score checks though, and its skill system is binary (you either have a skill or not).

[Newt]

5 hours ago, Mugen said:

You can ask @Newt directly, but it seems obvious to me that he was referring to the Basic Roleplaying booklet from 1981

Wrong! It was the rules section of Call of Cthulhu ,  part of the Games Workshop hardcover edition (which I think is popularly called 3rd edition) that I bought in 1986ish.

Look here I am with my copy!

 

[Questbird]

That's the version I have too 😀